Taking stock of his election campaign, the leader of the far-right Vlaams Belang party Tom Van Grieken blames his exhaustion and "too honest" answers in debates, he said on Flemish television on Tuesday evening.
Over the past week, Vlaams Belang's election result has often been called a "victory defeat" as the party achieved a better result this year than in 2019 (winning over 210,000 extra votes) but was still beaten by rightwing N-VA – which emerged as the largest party with 1.2 percentage points more.
"I am still a happy party leader," Van Grieken said. "We have as many seats as N-VA [in the Flemish Parliament] and are the largest party in three of the five provinces and in half of all municipalities in Flanders. We have won. Then again, I am not a satisfied party leader as it was also my ambition to be the biggest."
He attributed the fact that he did not succeed in this mainly to his fatigue. "I entered the campaign far too early. A year ago, I started my walk from the coast to Brussels, and I have not stopped campaigning since."
Gender debates and fatigue
As a result, he had to start many of the debates tired. "I did my utmost to get migration, purchasing power and security on the agenda – the three issues that really keep the Flemish people awake. But we were in defence mode and did not come out our best. Migration did not get through, and I regret that. I did not succeed enough in convincing the doubting voter."
Additionally (and perhaps surprisingly), gender became the topic of conversation in the last weeks before the elections. "I often went into the debates too honestly," Van Grieken said. "If you ask me a question, I answer it honestly. As long as a man cannot bear children, a man is a man and a woman is a woman. I sincerely cannot say anything else."
However, he realises that these "too honest answers" may have hurt people, but attempts to claim this was never his intention. "Those who know me know that I do not play hardball. Hurting people is not in my nature," the far-right leader claimed. "I blame myself for the fact that people have this perception of me. I cannot change my opinion, but I have to be careful not to hurt people. I managed to do that for ten years. I sincerely attribute it to my fatigue that I lost my tact."
In response, several critics pointed out that these comments imply that he should have lied to win over voters instead, while others stressed that Van Grieken's previous statements were "disgusting" and cannot be excused by saying he was "tired or not". Whether he said the words tactfully or not does not change the fact that he is denying people's human rights, many argue.
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In a television programme ahead of the election, in which prominent people of the seven Flemish parties debated for a weekend, Van Grieken clashed on the matter with Deputy Prime Minister Petra De Sutter (who is transgender) several times. "I apologised to her. Suddenly the debate became about Petra as a person, and I never wanted that."
De Sutter, however, emphasised that Van Grieken's statements were very personal, even if his attack was not aimed at her specifically. "For Vlaams Belang, I am the personification of the new enemy. What Tom Van Grieken actually said to me is that I have no right to exist."
Still, Van Grieken sees a bright future for his party. "With only 5,000 more votes, we would have won the majority. This is a missed opportunity, not a historic one. Historically, we achieved the best result ever. Vlaams Belang still has the ambition to govern."
"And in the meantime: is there not a need for a solid opposition? You have not seen anything yet, the best is yet to come."
